Within hours of posting the blog below (accompanied by a graphic photo of a roadkill rat), the Mercer Street garbage dump was cleaned up, the rat removed … and I had a furious Mercer Street resident on the line.

The “favour” done for me, the caller said, was the occupant of the home next to the trash heap out front getting out and cleaning it up. The favour he asked in return was for me to remove from the Internet all previous reporting of said outrage.

In the diplomatic finesse for which I’m noted, I transformed an agitated Star reader with a penchant to ignore unsightly litter piles into a proud, civic-minded citizen — I told him how disgusting it was for this community to be assaulted by such filth in such a public location and what a great message it sends when a Windsorite rolls up his sleeves and tackles a problem head-on for the betterment of his neighborhood.

As in conflict anywhere, there has to be a little give and take — the story stays, I told him, but I edited the story to refer to the aggrieved block as a whole, no longer specifically identifying the house location of the garbage pile. Drive that block today, and you won’t know where the garbage ever was (but skip the 700 block — somebody tossed a filthy mattress on the curb sometime since last night).

Here’s my story from yesterday:

You can just imagine the eager anticipation fueling this furry Norwegian as he darted across Mercer Street, a delicious mound of scattered garbage heaped up on the curb and spilling over onto the asphalt in front of a home in the 600 block of Mercer.

And then — splat! — the fat rat is run down and flattened by cruel fate, probably in the form of a vehicle driven by a multi-tasking mother rushing her youngster to a tiny tots swim class at the nearby Windsor Water World.

Rat that didn't make it across Mercer St. to access Windsor's newest garbage dump. http://t.co/xgfXg9Bs

Rats, of course, are just one of the byproducts when residents allow filth and waste to accumulate on the public right-of-way in front of their homes. Across the street from this newest garbage dump in Windsor’s core (Ward 3 — Councilor Fulvio Valentinis’s turf) is the Family Fruit Market. Busy Wyandotte Street East is just a few steps away, and across that retail ribbon is Windsor Water World and the Glengarry projects.

I don’t care whether someone wonders if this city is the Earth’s rectum — this should not be acceptable. I’ve cycled by this dumpsite a number of times now on my way to and from work, obviously this is a corner of Windsor apparently lacking in civic pride.

I don’t blame the city or the mayor — I don’t want my tax dollars babysitting every small insult. When somebody leaves their dog poop on my front lawn, it’s not my fault, but I clean it up anyway.

I’m not suggesting the people at this Mercer home caused this. Among the stinky mess is a recent bank statement for an individual living at 1500 Partington Ave.

Got any unlicensed city dump sites near your home? Clean it up or give the city a call at 311, or call your city councilor or give me a call and maybe I’ll cycle by to document it and perhaps name names.

Here’s another view of the new city dump on Mercer:

Windsor’s newest garbage dump in the 600 block of Mercer Street.

Windsor’s newest garbage dump in the 600 block of Mercer Street.

This is not acceptable in a city under transformation. It doesn’t take much to dirty a reputation, but it also doesn’t take much to clean up our act.

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